10g Wire Big Enough for Fridge and Ham Radio?

[brushogger]

Also, something I forgot to mention: You may want to run a dedicated wire for your HAM. The compressor could induce noise.

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[IdaSHO]

Not to mention most AC/DC fridges want a dedicated circuit.

Many even call for a direct fused connection to the battery, not thought a distribution or fuse panel.

 

[lysol]

Is it still likely to get noise in the Ham even if you run (2) dedicated power lines? (1 for the fridge and 1 for the radio). It seems as if the only way to minimize noise all together is to get a dedicated radio battery.... lol

 

[abruzzi]

I'm not an electronics expert, but I suspect that if the noise travels up the power lined for the radio, a capacitor across those lines (in parallel with the radio) could help filter the noise out.

 

[unseenone]

I'm running a 2nd battery, I don't have noise issues for the most part. I am quite happy with the installation. I did run 2 separate circuits from the 2nd battery. I have not had a need to install a capacitor, but I did ground everything well, fused positive and negative on both runs, at the battery, and installed ferrite on the coax outside the vehicle.

Every vehicle is different, so your actual mileage may vary.

 

[Arclight]

I ran a pair of 10GA wires from both battery terminals (+/-) and fused there with 2x40A blade fuses. Those run to a Blue Seas fuse box inside the truck, and then power my Yaesu FT8900 and Truckfridge. I've also got a 400W inverter on a circuit from the fuse box. This setup has been good. I had to add a ferrite choke to the fridge's power line, but no noise issues otherwise.

Arclight

 

[dstn2bdoa]

I ran a pair of 10GA wires from both battery terminals (+/-) and fused there with 2x40A blade fuses. Those run to a Blue Seas fuse box inside the truck, and then power my Yaesu FT8900 and Truckfridge. I've also got a 400W inverter on a circuit from the fuse box. This setup has been good. I had to add a ferrite choke to the fridge's power line, but no noise issues otherwise.

Arclight

It's nice to know that this is working for you. Very close to what I originally was thinking.

 

[Aaron Wasson]

I ran a pair of 10GA wires from both battery terminals (+/-) and fused there with 2x40A blade fuses. Those run to a Blue Seas fuse box inside the truck, and then power my Yaesu FT8900 and Truckfridge. I've also got a 400W inverter on a circuit from the fuse box. This setup has been good. I had to add a ferrite choke to the fridge's power line, but no noise issues otherwise.

Arclight

I went a tad bit bigger on mine. I have 6GA positive and neg running from my front battery to the back of my double cab. Positive goes through a breaker, then they both end up at a Blue Sea panel. Everything gets dealt out from there. I only wanted to do it once, so I decided to go bigger than needed.

On the Blue Sea I have my HF Radio, Flashlight charger, 300watt Inverter, and the ground for my tuner. Not a lot, but I wanted to be able to add more later on.

 

[doug720]

Late to the party, but, when running 12 volt wiring, you need to add the positive and negative wire runs together to get the total run for calculating wire size and voltage drop.

 

[unseenone]

Good point, and various types of wire typically have their own losses. As a result, one AWG 6 might not be the same as the next. A good simple test after you install is the measure the voltage at the source, and at the end of the wire, and see how big the difference is. If it's the same, that's good.

 

[verdesardog]

Good point, and various types of wire typically have their own losses. As a result, one AWG 6 might not be the same as the next. A good simple test after you install is the measure the voltage at the source, and at the end of the wire, and see how big the difference is. If it's the same, that's good.

Remember when doing the voltage test everything has to be turned on to get real time current through the wire otherwise the test will be meaningless.....

 

[unseenone]

Yup... or 8-10 and then if you upgrade radios you won't have to do it again. Also, consider marine grade safety duplex.